Singingwood Music Lesson Rates

Rates for private music lessons, group lessons and workshops:
Fiddle • Guitar • Mandolin • Violin ...

Private lessons -  Group classes   - Finding group members
Rehearsal Groups -  Workshops  -  Remote lessons  - Gift Certificates
Contact  - Singingwood home page

Lessons at Singingwood Music

I've been teaching one-on-one private music lessons for more than three decades, continuously. Primarily I teach guitar, mandolin, fiddle and violin ... but also four string tenor guitar, bass, beginning clawhammer banjo, and bodhran (the Irish drum.)

Repertoire

I teach a wide range of repertoire: mainly American old-time, bluegrass, Irish, and various folk styles, blues and swing. My specialty on guitar is solo finger-picking and accompaniment. On request I teach popular music (whatever's on the radio or highly ranked on iTunes.)

Curriculum

I like students to learn to read standard music notation and tablature, to learn by ear, to explore improvisation, composing and arranging music. Most importantly, I want them to develop skills that will enable them to play with other musicians when the opportunities arise.

Private and group lessons

Though most of my students take weekly private lessons, I provide several other options: such as shared or group classes, rehearsal groups, workshops.

I particularly enjoy mentoring those with a passion for music, regardless of level, and I want to make my lessons available to as many as possible. So if your finances are tight, please consider some of the options described on this page for participating in group lessons or occasional lessons.

Group Lessons

Group Lesson Rates

If my rate for private lessons is higher than you can afford, please consider participating in a group class of two or three musicians. A group setting is quite motivating and considerably less expensive.

You'll find group rates in the column on the right.

Finding people for group lessons

Talk to your friends. See if you know anyone at your level interested in sharing lessons with you.

If you can't find someone, ask me. Sometimes I have people on my waiting list who would be a good fit.

Private Lesson policies

Please read my lesson policies. They covers matters such as payment, cancellations and rescheduling:

http://www.theoreticallycorrect.com/lesson-policy/LessonPolicy2008.pdf

Group lesson and workshop policies.

With group lessons there are no adjustments for missed lessons.

Sometimes this works to your advantage. If the other person -- or other members can’t come -- the remaining student gets a private lesson.

However this does NOT work well on a regular basis. The secret to successful group lessons is consistent participation, otherwise the group splinters and we're all faced with the task of finding new members.

Alternating weeks

People often inquire about taking lessons every other week, but I find this far less productive than continuous lessons, especially if you're just starting out. I only take beginners if they come every week.

I've found that most people need at least eight lessons in a row to establish the skills and practice habits I teach which accelerate learning and create durable musical recall.

If you're an experienced musician with established practice habits, I'll consider alternate week lessons. A better alternative for beginners is two months on, two months off, possibly with a brush up lesson or two during the hiatus.

Private Lessons — Monthly ( 4 Weeks each month)

$180 monthly for four 1/2 hour lessons each month. Hourly rate: $90/hr.

$160 Summer/Introductory Rate 2010

Get 12% off introductory lessons through the summer months of 2010 (June, July, August). Offer applies up to two consecutive months of four weekly half-hour sessions. No obligation beyond the initial month, so get started with this $20/month discount!

NOTE: With monthly lessons we meet for four lessons each month, preferrably at a regularly scheduled day and time. There's always just four lessons. If your lesson falls in the "fifth week" of a month (on the 29th, 30th, or 31st) we skip that lesson. This gives you an occasional one-week break, roughly once every three months.

Read more about scheduling and lesson policies ...

Two-person Group — Monthly ( 4 Weeks each month)

$110 monthly per person for four 1/2 hour lessons each month. Hourly rate: $55/hr, which is roughly 60% of my private lesson rate.

With two and three person groups we focus on learning the same material on the same instrument. For instance a group of guitarists all learning basic chords, strums, and melodies and possibly finger-picking. Or a group of fiddlers learning a particular tune or technique, then moving on to a new tune.

Three-person Group — Monthly ( 4 Weeks each month)

$80 monthly per person for four 1/2 hour lessons each month. Hourly rate: $40/hr, roughly 44% of my private lesson rate.)

Rehearsal Groups — Weekly, bimonthly, or monthly

$40 per person for a one hour session with a group of three to five people. This is an opportunity for string and bluegrass bands to get input on improving their sound, rehearsal techniques, arranging , improvisation and communication

Minimum of three people. Rehearsal Groups may be scheduled regularly or occasionally.

Occasional Lessons, extended lessons, projects ...

$90/hr

If you want more time, we can schedule an additional lesson, or schedules permitting, we could start the lesson earlier or end it later.

Workshops — 10 to 30 people per meeting (Not currently running)

$25 to $30 per person per evening. Meeting once every two weeks.

Although the following workshops are on hold, I expect to host them again soon ... once I'm further down the road with my music education web site:

www.TheoreticallyCorrect.com

Playing music with others is immensely rewarding and naturally motivating. For many beginning and intermediate musicians it's the missing piece and seemingly unattainable goal. My group classes and Horizon workshops (temporarily on hold) provide the opportunity for students to be social with music and to learn to:

to play in jams

to participate in rehearsals and learn to lead them

to arrange music in collaboration with others

to enjoy performing and develop stage presence and rapport with audience.

In these groups and workshops I've seen remarkable transformations in people who never imagined that they'd have the ability, courage or opportunity to play with others. Please come join us when we start up again.

Here are some workshops I held in the past:

Horizon: Performance and Rehearsal Workshops

Fiddling for Violinists

Acoustic Instruments 101

Music Connection for Kids

I put these workshops on hold a couple of years ago to work on some music education projects which are well underway at www.TheoreticallyCorrect.com.

Most workshop members frequently needed to expand their chord knowledge, and they needed to transposed songs to a key suitable for their voice, so I created Key Switch, a song transposing tool, and Sound Thinking, a chord and scale encyclopedia. Both of these are free, online.

Musical Computer Skills

As part of my lessons I also coach people in using their Macintosh computers for musical purposes, for music notation, for digital audio recording and editing, and in using 'practice' and 'slow down' software like Transcribe! or the Amazing Slow Downer. I've found tools skills greatly enhance musical understanding and streamline your practice.

Gift Certificates

If you want to give music lessons as a gift, I have a couple of styles of gift certificates that fit nicely in an envelope.

To provide a good start, most people purchase a month of lessons, plus an extra half hour. We append that extra half hour to the first session, so we can spend an hour together initially, to get a solid start on holding the instrument and taking the first steps.

After the initial lesson most people do fine with regular weekly half hour lessons ... however the recipient can use the time however they prefer.